The Otsu District Court on Friday sentenced a couple in Takashima, Shiga Prefecture, to seven years in prison for fatally abusing their 2-year-old daughter by pouring hot water on her last year.
Presiding Judge Hidenori Nagai handed down the ruling on Kenta Nagasaka, 25, and his wife, Chizuru, 26.
"It was a selfish and shortsighted crime. The defendants do not seem to feel any compassion to their daughter, while mental and physical pains she suffered are unimaginable," the judge said.
According to the ruling, the Nagasakas, frustrated by their daughter, Yuna, taking too long to eat meals, repeatedly hit her with a steel bar or poured hot water on her starting in late May 2006. The girl died July 5 due to septicemia resulting from burns.
The court rejected the couple's claim that there were no causal links between the assault and the girl's death.
Prosecutors had sought 10-year prison terms for the couple.